DEPUTY Commissioner of Police in charge of the crime portfolio, Mark Shields, has expressed confidence in the ability of the security forces to curb the rising murder rate despite an explosion in homicides since the start of the year.

Recently released figures from the police reveal that 968 persons have been killed between January 1 and August 31 this year. The figures have leapfrogged the murder rate over the corresponding period last year by 23 per cent, but Shields said with the right application, the police can regain ground made up over the last two years when the crime figures decreased.

“Although homicides have increased this year by an alarming level, I would predict that we will be able to check the upward trend and see some decreases by the end of the year,” Shields told the Observer.

He pointed to an increase in gang wars and said most of the murders were concentrated in areas known for high gang activity. He also pointed to the police divisions of Kingston Western , St Andrew North and St Andrew Central as areas where murders have shot up.

“A high percentage of the murders are gang-related. In Kingston Western we have seen an 85 per cent increase from 55 in 2006 to 102 this year, [while] the feud in Park Lane and Common [ In St Andrew North Central] has claimed 30 lives,” Shields explained.

He said the hot-spot initiative, instituted by the police in 2005, had yielded positive results and would be re-instated with renewed vigour. The initiative, he said, was side-tracked this year because the police had to deploy resources to deal with the Cricket World Cup and the just concluded general elections. Now that those two events were out of the way, police would be moving full speed ahead to arrest the crime rate.

“Last year we had a decrease in murders because we were able to deploy officers in the right places. {This year] we have not been able to dedicate that level of resources. January to August was one of the most demanding times for the force. Our resources are limited,” Shields said.

He warned that the police would not be letting up.

“We will be back on the road to focus on road policing, small crimes, increased raids and better deployment,” he said.

He said special attention would be paid to gangs and working in tandem with overseas law enforcement teams to stem the flow of arms and ammunition into the country and break the link between local gangsters and their counterparts in Britain and the United States.